An Introduction on the New Perspective of Paul  Dr. Samuel Tedder [Excerpts from his teaching at the Jerusalem Summit] 

The Theology track at the Jerusalem Summit focused primarily on new forms of Replacement theology and how to respond to them. One of the most discussed theological movements of the past fifty years is the so-called “New Perspective on Paul” (NPP), which tends towards Replacement thinking. Dr. Samuel Tedder provided a concise and balanced introduction to this influential school of thought, explaining both its strengths and its implications for how Christians view Israel today. 
 
Have Christians misunderstood both Paul and Judaism? 

For centuries, Judaism was often portrayed as a religion of legalism, where people sought to earn salvation through obedience to the Law. Christianity, by contrast, was presented as the religion of grace. The work of E. P. Sanders in the 1970s challenged this picture. After studying Jewish literature from the Second Temple period, Sanders argued that Judaism was better understood as a covenant relationship initiated by God’s grace. Obedience to the Law was not a way of entering the covenant but a way of living within it. This became one of the foundational insights behind the New Perspective on Paul. 

Another key figure was Swedish theologian Krister Stendahl, who questioned whether Paul’s doctrine of justification primarily addressed an individual’s guilty conscience. Instead, he argued that Paul was dealing with the relationship between Jews and Gentiles and the question of who belongs to God’s covenant people. 

James Dunn developed these ideas further. He argued that Paul’s phrase “works of the law” referred not to human effort in general but to specific Jewish identity markers such as circumcision, food laws and Sabbath observance. These practices distinguished Jews from Gentiles and marked out the covenant community. 

According to Dunn, Paul’s concern was not opposition to good works but opposition to requiring Gentiles to adopt Jewish identity markers in order to belong to God’s people. Thus, faith in the Messiah became the defining badge of covenant membership. 

N. T. Wright has further developed this approach by placing Paul within the larger story of Israel. He argues that Israel’s history remains under the shadow of exile until the coming of the Messiah. Through His death and resurrection, Jesus renewed the covenant, fulfilled Israel’s story and opened the blessings promised to Abraham to the nations. 

There is much to appreciate in these developments. The New Perspective places Paul firmly within his Jewish context. It highlights the importance of Israel’s Scriptures and corrects unfair caricatures of Judaism. It reminds us that salvation is not merely an individual experience but participation in God’s covenant family. 

Important Questions Remain 
Some expressions of the New Perspective understand Israel’s story as reaching its climax in Christ in such a way that ethnic Israel no longer retains a distinct role in God’s ongoing purposes. Israel becomes redefined around those who believe in Christ together with the Gentiles who are incorporated into the covenant family. 

This becomes especially significant when reading Romans 9–11. If Israel is understood primarily as a redefined spiritual community, Paul’s expectation concerning Israel’s future can easily lose its national and historical dimension. 

A helpful corrective has been offered by New Testament scholar John Barclay. Barclay argues that the defining feature of Paul’s theology is God’s incongruous grace; that is, grace given without regard to the worthiness of its recipients. God’s grace called Abraham, formed Israel, and opened the covenant to the Gentiles. 

From this perspective, God’s faithfulness to Israel is not an obstacle to the Gospel but a demonstration of the very nature of grace itself. 

This is why Paul’s olive tree metaphor remains so important. Gentiles are grafted into Israel’s tree, but they do not replace its natural branches. The root that sustains both Jews and Gentiles is the gracious calling of God. The gifts and calling of God remain irrevocable because they rest not on human merit but on divine faithfulness. And on the salvation of all Israel, there is the future hope that God will save all of Israel, meaning ethnic Israel, which was created by God’s mercy, is held in God’s mercy, and will be healed from its partial hardening by divine mercy in Christ. 

The New Perspective has rightly challenged the Church to read Paul more carefully within his Jewish world. Yet any reading of Paul must also reckon with his unwavering conviction that God has not rejected His people. The same grace that welcomes the nations into the covenant is the grace that sustains God’s promises to Israel. 

Rev. Dr. Samuel Tedder is a biblical scholar, pastor and missionary from Finland. He received his Doctoral degree in New Testament Studies from Durham University, UK (2018).